The old air-cooled VW Beetle gas engines could not heat the vehicle in the winter, so I doubt the heat given off by a modern high-efficiency electic motor would provide much heat on cold days.
Actually they worked fine going down the highway (when new).
The cables/control flaps would stick, hoses would come off, leaks develop, and of course if the rocker panels rusted along with the heater tubes...fogedaboudit.
I don’t know; the brushless high-efficiency DC motors we use in R/C can get real hot — you wouldn’t want to touch the case with a bare finger in some cases. The motors are much more efficient than the older ones in terms of runtime for the same energy input — but so much energy is going through them they can get plenty hot. Gearing and load and other issues affect the running temperature. Also, an electric brushless motor scooter I had needed a huge heatsink for the speed controller — big loss there.
The old air-cooled VW Beetle gas engines could not heat the vehicle in the winter,...
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False. My ‘68 Bug and the later ‘72 Super Bug, would both heat the interior so fast that I had to drive with my window half down.
In the late ‘60s, during a snow-sleet-ice storm in the DFW area, I drove the 70 mile round trip to work and back. Most cars couldn’t even go up slight grades on the highways, but I would go around them on the right and drive steadily up using the off road shoulders. Those Beetles were great!